EBOOK
The Three Governors Controversy
Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics
Charles S. Bullock(0)
About
The death of Georgia governor-elect Eugene Talmadge in late 1946 launched a constitutional crisis that ranks as one of the most unusual political events in U.S. history: the state had three active governors at once, each claiming that he was the true elected official.
This is the first full-length examination of that episode, which wasn't just a crazy quirk of Georgia politics (though it was that) but the decisive battle in a struggle between the state's progressive and rustic forces that had continued since the onset of the Great Depression. In 1946, rural forces aided by the county unit system, Jim Crow intimidation of black voters, and the Talmadge machine's "loyal 100,000" voters united to claim the governorship.
In the aftermath, progressive political forces in Georgia would shrink into obscurity for the better part of a generation. In this volume is the story of how the political, governmental, and Jim Crow social institutions not only defeated Georgia's progressive forces but forestalled their effectiveness for a decade and a half.
This is the first full-length examination of that episode, which wasn't just a crazy quirk of Georgia politics (though it was that) but the decisive battle in a struggle between the state's progressive and rustic forces that had continued since the onset of the Great Depression. In 1946, rural forces aided by the county unit system, Jim Crow intimidation of black voters, and the Talmadge machine's "loyal 100,000" voters united to claim the governorship.
In the aftermath, progressive political forces in Georgia would shrink into obscurity for the better part of a generation. In this volume is the story of how the political, governmental, and Jim Crow social institutions not only defeated Georgia's progressive forces but forestalled their effectiveness for a decade and a half.
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Reviews
"Subjected to scholarly examination, the three governors controversy turns out to have been even crazier in fact and more far-reaching in effect than the popular imagination has conjured. A big part of the reason the book succeeds so well in elucidating this confrontation is its careful depiction of the historical context-who all the major players were, how they came to be assigned their parts in
Pete McCommons, Flagpole Magazine
"At last we have a comprehensive analysis of one of the most colorful episodes in the rich annals of southern political history. Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie have succeeded not only in telling an oft-told tale from a fresh yet still thoroughly engaging perspective but also in sorting out its various immediate and long-term implications. This book will be essential reading for scholars and simply
James C. Cobb, Spalding Distinguished Professor, Department of History, University of Geor
"The Three Governors Controversy is a compelling narrative of the widespread notoriety engendered by Georgia's 1946 election and its aftermath. This history reveals the underlying conflicts of the succession battle by bringing together a careful analysis of the politics of the period with an array of popular and scholarly accounts."
Timothy J. Crimmins, coauthor of Democracy Restored: A History of the Georgia State Capita